μορτός
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
βροτός
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
brotos
English translation (word)
mortal
Transliteration (Etymon)
mortos
English translation (etymon)
mortal
Century
Century
5-6 AD
Source
Id.
Ref.
On Aristotle’s "On Interpretation" 38.11-12
Ed.
Ammonius, Commentary on On Interpretation, ed. A. Busse, 1897
Quotation
…βροτὸς [ὁ ἄνθρωπος] δὲ ὡς μορτὸς καὶ μοιρητός…
Translation (En)
... and [man was called] brotos “mortal” as mortos "mortal" or moirētos “having received a lot” (assigned by the Moirai)
Other translation(s)
Modern Greek: ...και ονομάστηκε [ο άνθρωπος] βροτός, επειδή είναι θνητός ή μοιρητός (του έλαχε μια συγκεκριμένη μοίρα)...
Modern etymology
Chantraine (1970, 197-198): Αlready in Homer, βροτός was the form opposed to ἄμβροτος, meaning ‘immortal’. It is the inherited verbal adjective of the Indo-European root *mer- meaning "to die".
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word is not used in Modern Greek.
Entry By
Chriti
Comment
This etymology is correct, μορτός (attested in Callimachus) being identical with βροτός. Μορτός itself is etymologized as a derivative from μοῖρα, through the ghost-form *μοιρητός "who has received a lot": the root of μοῖρα (*smer-) appears as μορ- in forms like Hom. ἔμμορε "he obtained from destiny", μόρος "lot, destiny", which looked identical with the stem of μορτός, once initial *s- was lost.